The accumulated running distance of a vehicle is an important part of data for evaluating a vehicle state. Most vehicles have a device for measuring the accumulated running distance. The accumulated running distance is displayed so that it can be seen.
In particular, the accumulated running distance is an important factor when dealing with used cars. In the past, a mechanical meter was widely used to measure the accumulated running distance. However, the mechanical meter can be easily tampered with, so recently an electronic meter has become fashionable.
However, the electronic meter is also easily tampered with just by changing an EEPROM storing the accumulated running distance data. Thus, by exchanging a cluster including the electronic meter, the recorded accumulated running distance data can be easily tampered with.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.